Description

If there is one truth about acquiring a new language, it is this: the more you converse in it the more quickly you learn.

We want to enable learners to make the most of their hard-earned language qualifications, so have designed our unique and highly effective method to plug this crucial gap between learning and using a language. At our beautiful venues in the heart of the English countryside, we immerse learners in intensive, targeted and, above all, authentic conversation. By bringing together a group of friendly, motivated and diverse native speakers from around the English-speaking world, we help our learners develop their language knowledge and gain confidence in their conversation skills through non-stop interaction all day, every day.

At the heart of our programmes are the one-to-one conversations between learners and native English-speakers. Learners benefit from an innovative system where they rotate between Conversation Coaches, reinforcing learning, promoting confidence and opening their ears to the diversity of the English language.

The other daily interactions include telephone and conference calls, presentations, meeting room and group activities, meals with our Conversation Coaches and social time. In addition, the programme features lunch and an afternoon excursion in beautiful nearby Cambridge, where learners can further immerse themselves in English.

Our Learners

We provide programmes for small businesses, large corporations and individuals. We have a wide age range among our learners at Accelera (the minimum age to take part in the programme is 18) and diverse professional backgrounds are represented. Some learners come to us with years of study behind them, but, lacking the confidence to communicate freely, feel they are not making full use of their hard-earned English qualifications. Business professionals understand that language skills provide career progression opportunities, and what better platform to improve rapidly than ‘living in English’ with native English-speakers as part of one of our bespoke programmes. The minimum requirement to participate in an Accelera programme is lower intermediate level in English; our friendly Programme Directors assess potential learners during a free, no obligation test via telephone. Visit our contact page to arrange a level test.

Our Activities

One-to-one conversation sessions: This is where most of the learning takes place, through individual 50-minute conversation sessions between a Conversation Coach and learner. After a 10-minute ‘breather’, learners rotate to another Conversation Coach for a new conversation. Throughout the day, the learner is assured of conversation and learning tailored to his or her individual learning needs, enriched by the diverse accents, vocabulary and experience of our Conversation Coaches (American, English, Australian, Irish, Australian, Canadian, etc.). This innovative, open approach is highly effective because it focuses on the learner, and is one of the keys to the success of the programme.

Telephone Sessions: One-to-one telephone sessions, between a Conversation Coach and a learner, related to a professional or business activity. Our Programme Director provides all the necessary materials.

Conference Calls: These activities consist of structured Skype or telephone conferences. Two or three learners and one or more Conversation Coaches conduct a series of calls, each lasting from five to thirty minutes.

Presentations: If making a presentation in your mother tongue is tough, presenting in a second language is even tougher. During the week, our learners attend a seminar on presentation skills and, with the aid of the Programme Director and MC, prepare a topic to present in English to the group at the end of the week.

Group Activities: After each afternoon break, learners take part in activities designed to promote group conversations and develop valuable team building.

Meeting Room: Each day the group will come together in the meeting room to practise making presentations, to improvise skits, and take part in other fun, informal activities aimed at accelerating their ability to converse with confidence in English.

Meals: The learning continues throughout breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each table has two native-speaking Conversation Coaches and two learners, and every meal time learners rotate to enjoy their meals with a new set of people.

Excursion: On the last day of the programme we take the group to Cambridge for continued language immersion during lunch and an afternoon spent exploring this beautiful, historical city.*

The group will be led by our Programme Director, a highly qualified English teacher who organizes daily activities and ensures things go smoothly, and a Master of Ceremonies, who will supervise group activities.

Our Results

Accelera gives learners a concentration of English unlike any other language education programme and provides the key to unlock learners’ communication potential. Our pool of multi-national native-speaking coaches means learners benefit from not just linguistic, but also cultural, development.

During the programme, our learners will:

Gain the confidence necessary to communicate in English in a range of situations, taking any recurring errors in their stride;

Lose their dependence on translating from their mother tongue to English ;

Quickly gain increased mastery and retention of English in conversation;